Warp stitch chains have heretofore been employed in sewing fashion to bind originally loose base material or elements into a coherent structure. The so-called "Malimo" machine has commonly been used for this purpose, and a representative prior art example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,890,579. Also, it has previously been proposed to insert filling in links-links fabric, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,443, and to combine a warp and filling inlay in a knit fabric formed with two sets of knitting ends, as in U.S. Pat. No. 628,818.
Insofar as I am aware, however, it has not heretofore been recognized that woven structure characteristics can be obtained in a knit fabric by interlacing loops of warp stitch chains with the filling of a warp and filling inlay, which the present invention accomplishes advantageously.